This invention relates to a spade lug, and more particularly to a spade lug for making an electrical connection between a conductor attached to the spade lug and one of several different electrical terminals.
Spade lugs are often connected to an electrical conductor in order to facilitate a connection between the conductor and a barrier strip, a terminal block, or a single terminal such as that found on an audio amplifier, loudspeaker, or the like. Although the terminals on most electrical components use a threaded binding post, for which a spade lug is ideally suited, other types of terminals are becoming more popular. For example, the terminals on many electronic components use a spring-loaded clip, or clasp which, when pushed, exposes an opening for receiving an electrical conductor. Upon release, the spring-loaded clasp engages the conductor or pin to establish an electrical connection between the conductor and the terminal.
Thus, when an electrical component having a barrier strip, a terminal block, or a threaded binding post is replaced by a component having a different terminal, all spade lugs utilized to connect conductors to the old component have to be removed or replaced, which is expensive and time consuming. Another problem exists when the terminal is in the form of the aforementioned spring-loaded terminal utilizing a spring-loaded clip or clasp, since pin conductors are often crimped or soldered to the conductor in order to facilitate the connection between the conductor and the terminal. However, the connection is such that the pin extends substantially horizontally and the weight of the conductor thus creates a lever arm which puts stress on the crimped or soldered connection and thus compromises the integrity of the connection.